• Townsend Taps Authy To Strengthen 2FA on IBM i

  February 14, 2018 Alex Woodie

  Townsend Security adopted a new smartphone app called Authy to deliver one-time authentication codes to users in the latest release of its two-factor authentication (2FA) solution for IBM i. The new Authy solution replaces the text messaging-based approach that it previously used, which soon will likely be no longer compliant with PCI regulations.

  2FA solutions are the emerging standard for authentication in the enterprise, following the long downward spiral in the effectiveness and efficiency of using passwords to confirm identity. Nearly everybody carries a smartphone these days, and enterprises have tried multiple ways to incorporate that fact into their authentication …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, February 14

  February 14, 2018 Dan Burger

  Old code is today’s technical debt. New code is tomorrow’s technical debt. Maintaining code is the albatross around our necks. What can you do besides kick your tech debt down the road? Find some food for thought on that topic in Monitor this week.

  You’ll also learn a few things about where small to midsize businesses are spending the bulk of their IT budgets, which you can then compare to your own budget. And finally, an article that points out that CEOs are investing more in advanced technologies such as AI, but they aren’t planning to invest in retraining their …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 20, Number 6

  February 14, 2018 Doug Bidwell

  Welcome to the latest edition of the IBM i PTF Guide. This week, here is our update on the Spectre/Meltdown (SM) speculative execution security vulnerabilities. First, we have moved our table of fixes to the master spreadsheet for the IBM i PTF Guide because it is just easier to manage. There are now 16 fixes for V7R1, and 9 for each of the other two releases, in addition to the firmware fixes. They are all MFs, which in all likelihood means an IPL is required to apply them. The good news is that nothing has changed in about eight …

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• IBM Preps Power9 “ZZ” Systems For Imminent Launch

  February 12, 2018 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  In last Monday’s issue of The Four Hundred, I told you that the market was getting restless for the rollout of the mainstream servers based on the Power9 processor, and Jenny Thomas, our publisher, commented on our @ITJungleNews Twitter feed that it was also me that was getting restless. Indeed, I am. My iron level is getting low, I suppose.

  Well, the good news for both you and me is that the “ZZ” variants of the Power Systems platforms, which we talked about last week based on the chatter we have been hearing, are coming sooner rather than later. …

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• NGS And LightEdge Provide New Entry To The Cloud

  February 12, 2018 Dan Burger

  When does the time come to consider moving your IBM i on Power off premise? Many IBM i shops remain unmoved. An uneasy feeling about losing control or applications and data remains a top concern. Fears of production server accessibility on someone else’s watch persist. After years of successfully running your core business apps on a reliable server, why change what’s working great?

  Well, there are IBM i shops discovering compelling reasons and making the move. Gradually is the word that describes it. It’s not unobservable or insignificant. The reasonableness is not universal, and moderation seems to be the mindset. …

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• Guru: Combine Related Rows Using SQL

  February 12, 2018 Ted Holt

  A reader writes: “Hey, Ted. In our ERP system, certain business objects, such as sales orders and purchase orders, can have multiple comment records. Is it possible, using SQL, to combine all the comment records for an order into one long comment and retrieve it as a column in a result set?”

  I can relate to this. I can remember supporting an ERP system where not only the orders, but the order detail lines, could have such comments. End users depend heavily on such unstructured data to do their jobs. To answer your question, yes, it is possible and it …

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• As I See It: Bot Versus Bot

  February 12, 2018 Victor Rozek

  An editor at MAD Magazine once joked that the “E” in Alfred E. Neuman probably stood for “Enigma” because no one actually knew what it stood for. Well, maybe it stands for “Entertaining” because the magazine features some wicked satire. Whatever his middle name, Neuman has graced the magazine cover since its inception in 1961. And, as an unanticipated satirical bonus, it turned out that with his boyish-bumpkin looks and deep insights (“What, me worry?”) he bore an uncanny resemblance to George W. Bush.

  One of the popular features in MAD is Spy vs Spy – a wordless cartoon that …

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• Modernizing The IBM i Estate For Digital Transformation

  February 12, 2018 Alex Woodie

  For those that use it, the IBM i platform is a workhorse of a machine, faithfully executing critical business processes day in and day out, with a minimum of fuss and upkeep. However, the long-term dependability of the IBM i platform comes with a potentially nasty side effect: technological stagnation caused by inattention and a disinclination for change.

  Like the old commercials for Maytag showed, reliability has a price. For the home appliance maker, the cost of above-average reliability was a lower revenue stream on the maintenance side of the business. While the manufacturers building shoddy washing machines may have …

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• IBM Power Champions: Showing Passion For The Platform

  February 7, 2018 Alex Woodie

  Having a job working on the IBM i-Power Systems platform isn’t easy. Compared to the vast Intel X86 ecosystem, IBM i folks make up a tiny, oft-overlooked minority. That’s one reason why it’s so important to have strong and passionate leaders that the wider installed based can look up to. Along that vein, last week IBM unveiled its 2018 class of Power Systems Champions, which includes a good number of passionate IBM i types.

  IBM named 60 Power Systems Champions for 2018. Out of those 60 Champions, 22 are new to the program, while 38 are returning. Twenty-six of the …

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• Does IBM i Need Independent Security Vendors?

  February 7, 2018 Alex Woodie

  Over the past 10 years, the number of independent IBM i security vendors has dwindled as bigger companies backed by deep-pocket investors scooped up smaller firms. Today there are only a handful of security firms that HelpSystems and Syncsort (Vision Solutions) have not acquired. We chatted with the heads of those companies to hear their thoughts on the matter.

  HelpSystems has been the biggest force for consolidation in the IBM i business, completing over a dozen acquisitions since it kicked off a decade-long buying spree with its acquisition of ASC back in October 2006. Many of HelpSystems’ deals involved IBM …

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